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When to Cut Down Grape Vines

By Yolanda Vanveen; Updated September 21, 2017

Grape vines can be cut down as soon as they've started to die back and become dormant, and regular pruning during the dormant season encourages more fruit production the following year. Trim back grape vines with help from a sustainable gardener in this free video series on garden and lawn care.

Transcript

Hi, this is Yolanda Vanveen, and in this segment, we're going to talk about when to cut down grapevines. Now, grapevines are a wonderful plant and they produce grape into the summer into fall. So the best time to cut them down is after you've harvested the grapes in the fall or the winter when they're dormant because you don't want to cut them down in the middle of summer or right before they're producing the grapes because then you won't get a crop that year. So as soon as they've started to die back a little bit is the best time and go dormant. And so as soon as the leaves start turning yellow, then you just trim out a lot of the wild suckers and leave the main branches. And then that way, you can have even more fruit the next year. But if you're moving and it's the summer time or you want to give a start to somebody else, you can really trim back your grapevines year round. So whenever there's dead branches or a lot of wild vines, by trimming it down periodically throughout the year, you're going to encourage the main branches or the main growth to have even more lush fruit. So you do your main pruning in the fall when they're died back, but you prune periodically throughout the year, and then that way, you can get even better fruit.

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About the Author

Yolanda Vanveen is a third-generation flower grower and sustainable gardener who lives in Kalama, Wash. She is the owner of VanveenBulbs.com, selling flower bulbs on the Internet, at garden shows and at farmers markets in the Pacific Northwest for more than 20 years. Vanveen holds a degree in communications and international studies from Linfield College, and is a graduate of the WSU Master Gardener Program. Vanveen represented the United States at the 2006 Indigenous Bulb Society Symposium in South Africa and has been featured on the PBS show Smart Gardening, demonstrating which way is up with flower bulbs.